It's that time of year
by The Grilled Cheesus
Summary: It's that time of year and Santana begrudgingly spreads the Christmas cheer with an itchy Santa suit and her two trusty elves.


**Author's Note:** Hey guys, this is just something I wrote up in the spirit of the holidays. I decided to upload it now and not Christmas because I'm not sure if I'll have the time to do so- so here's an early Christmas present from me to you. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Be safe everyone and happy holidays.

Oh, it's AU just to let you know.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the show or the characters.

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God, this fucking beard is itchy and irritating as hell. Not to mention this costume must be made of some military government insulated shit because Santana feels like she's being _roasted._ And someone must have put the heater setting on _fiery-pits-of-hell _because that's exactly what it feels like.

Why did she even agree to this? She didn't want to spend her day being roasted alive in a probably worn-before Santa suit, surrounded by snotty-nosed brats all day.

"Santana! Look, look!" she heard an excited voice call.

She turned around to see two identical beaming smiles belonging to a blonde and a miniature clone of said blonde. They were wearing identical elf outfits; completely decked out in green, red and white—from green elf hats and pointed elf shoes with a single bell on the ends to red and white candy cane knee-high socks.

And, _oh God_—red Rudolph noses. They were decked out in elf gear _and _a red Rudolph nose.

This is why she agreed. How could anyone with a heart say no to such a disgustingly cute display like that?

"Q, you and your spawn look completely ridiculous," she settled on saying instead.

"Speak for yourself, _Santa,_" Quinn said, quirking that damn eyebrow of hers. Though her 'bitch look' is toned down by like, a hundred or so notches with a bright red Rudolph nose on her face but the intent was there.

"Yeah! You look all… poofy, _Santa,_" mini-six-year-old-Quinn piped up, referring to the stuffed cotton underneath her Santana's jacket and trying to act all wannabe-sassy; hands on her hips and ridiculous eyebrow quirk. Those damn Fabray genes were strong.

"_Hey!_ You can't try to sass me little one," Santana objected, "I taught you how to sass."

"That explains her little attitude spats," Quinn commented, "Why are you teaching my child poor manners, Santana?"

"Someone needs to keep you in line when I'm not around," Santana smirked.

"Whatever _Santa,_" Quinn glared, "Go sit on the chair and wait for the kids to come," she said as she pointed to the chair by a large Christmas tree.

"God, why am I even here?" Santana grumbled, "When I go to the mall, I expect to do some shopping, not to play Santa."

"You're here because this is your punishment for teaching my baby how to cuss in Spanish," Quinn said, "That and the guy who was supposed to be here got sick."

"Just FYI, I didn't _teach _her how to cuss in Spanish, okay?" Santana waved her hand, "Your midget baby overheard me."

"_Hey!_" the child said indignantly, "I'm right here you know!" she said as she stomped her foot.

Santana looked down at the girl, "You really need to stop letting her hang out with Berry because she's starting to act like her."

"At least Rachel is a good influence on Beth, unlike you," she said pointedly.

"Hey! She loves her Auntie 'Tana, okay?"

"You're lucky she does otherwise I would have stopped letting her hang out with you a long time ago," Quinn said but wasn't all that serious. She and Santana have known each other since they were Beth's age, they were family.

"But it's not like it's a bad thing," Santana said, "I mean hey, she's already kind of bilingual with what she already knows."

"It _is _a bad thing, Santana," Quinn glared at her, "She said those words in class you know?"

"So?"

"_So, _her teacher is Spanish, you idiot."

"Oh."

"Yeah, _oh._"

"Well…," Santana trailed off and coughed awkwardly, "Hey little one?" she said as she bent down to Beth's level. "Let's not say those words again, _comprende?_" she asked and Beth nodded. Santana looked up to see Quinn distracted with her phone before whispering, "I'll teach you some pranks and you can play them on your dad the next time you see him instead," and gave a wink. Beth grinned, "'Kay."

"It's almost time for the kids to see Santa, so stop teaching my child bad things," Quinn said, shooing Santana away.

Santana frowned, "I don't get why I have to be Santa, I mean, hello?" she waved at her face, "Santa can't get a fine tan like this up in the North Pole."

"It doesn't matter Santana, all the kids see is the beard and the outfit and not the face," Quinn said, "They just want to tell the guy their wishes so go to the chair, sit and be… jolly," she trailed off awkwardly. Santana was the furthest thing from 'jolly', even on her good days.

Santana sighed, resigned and did as she was told.

The rest of the day was filled with hyperactive, screaming children sitting in her lap and demanding outrageous things like superpowers (though Santana could understand that one, superpowers were pretty kickass). There were times where all she wanted to do was shove the kid onto the ground because they were getting grabby and tried to pull her beard off but refrained because she didn't want a lawsuit against her and Quinn was giving her deadly elf-glares to keep her in line.

The day was winding down and the line ended with the last parent dragging their devil spawn away with them.

Santana sighed in relief as Quinn and Beth walked over. Well, Quinn walked, Beth practically bounced. That kid never seems to run out of energy. Fucking energizer bunny she was.

"Well, you actually did a decent job today, Santana," Quinn commented, actually impressed.

"Yeah! You did great Auntie 'Tana," Beth joined in, "You didn't glare as much and you were actually nice!"

"Shut up," Santana groaned, closing her eyes. She was just glad the day was over.

"Um, excuse me?"

Or not.

"I'm sorry, we're actually done for the day so…" Quinn said apologetically.

"Does that mean we can't see Santa, Britt?" a disappointed voice asked.

"I guess so, I'm sorry, Em," another voice said.

Santana opened her eyes because really, she didn't want the kid to chuck a tantrum or something.

"Hey, no," Santana spoke up, "Why don't you come and sit on my lap, kid," Santana said, patting her lap.

The little girl who looked about Beth's age, who also had blonde hair, lit up and all but threw herself onto Santana's lap causing her to let out an _'oomph.'_

"Emma, you can't just jump on Santa like that!" the voice belonging to who Santana guessed must be the kid's sister or something.

Santana looked up at the other girl to see a tall, beautiful blonde looking at her with apologetic blue eyes.

"I'm sorry," the girl said.

"It's alright, it's been happening all day," Santana just waved off. "So, Emma—,"

The kid's eyes widened, "You know my name?" she asked, awed and obviously forgetting her sister had said her name not even a minute ago due to her excitement. "Brittany!" the girl whispered excitedly, "You're right, Santa _is _magic!" she said to her sister and her sister grinned back, nodding enthusiastically.

Well, Santana may not be some fat mythical dude who invades people's homes once a year but sure, she's pretty magical if she doesn't say so herself.

"Emma," Santana said again, smiling at the girl- not that anyone could tell because her mouth was covered by that damn itchy beard. "Tell Santa what you want for Christmas."

"Well…," Emma said and bit her lip, bouncing a little in Santana's lap, "Santa, you're magic right?" she asked, looking up at Santana with bright eyes.

Well, how could anyone say no to that face and let the kid down? So Santana nodded.

"And that means you can do anything, right?" the child asked with that same bright eyed expression.

"Within reason, little one," Santana said. She didn't want to give the kid false hope or anything and let her down. She wasn't _that _heartless.

"I just have one wish," she said, looking down and fiddled with her fingers, "I just-I just want my sister to be happy again," she said softly.

Santana just felt _something _in her heart, she didn't know. Just that one soft yet earnestly spoken wish did something to her and evidently Quinn as well as she can be heard 'aww'ing in the background.

"Aw, Em," Brittany spoke up, "I'm happy, I'm very happy," she said as she walked up and stood beside Santana, running her fingers through her sister's hair.

"I know but sometimes you're not," her sister looked up at her. "You look sad when you look at pictures of mom and dad."

Well, shit. If this is going where Santana thinks it's going then she's afraid she may just dissolve into a pile of hysterical emotional tears and she's not even drunk.

"Emma," Brittany said softly, "I just miss them and I know you do too but guess what? We still have Nana and Pop and we have each other so I'm happy, okay?" she smiled.

God, Santana's eyes were getting misty and she didn't even know these people yet she was being moved to fucking tears by this moment. _Get a hold of yourself, woman._

Emma just nodded before turning to Santana again, "I know she says she's happy but she's sad sometimes but I want her to be happy all the time," she said.

Santana swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded, "I can see your sister is a nice person—,"

"She's the nicest and bestest person ever!" the girl quickly interjected.

"Okay, yes," Santana acquiesced, "I can see your sister is the _nicest _and _bestest _person ever," she looked up and gave Brittany a wink before looking down at the girl again, "I'll see what I can do to so she gets the happiness she deserves, okay?" and the girl nodded, satisfied.

Santana smiled and turned to Quinn who… looked like a mess, obviously affected by the touching scene that happened in front of her.

"Quinn, can you take Emma and get her some icecream?" she asked. What? She's dressed up as Santa right now and Santa is a giving guy and she's in a giving mood.

The girl lit up and turned to Brittany, "Can I please, _please _go get some icecream with Santa's elf?" she asked. Santana barely stifled a snort.

"I don't know, I don't want to trouble Santa…," Brittany said, looking uncertain.

"Don't worry, you're not troubling me," Santana waved off, "I'm getting my trusty _elf _to help me, that's what they're for," Santana smirked underneath her beard at a glaring Quinn.

"Alright," Brittany agreed and poked her sister to get her attention, "Listen Em, you be a good girl for Santa's elf okay? 'Cause if you're not, the elf will tell Santa and Santa won't bring you any gifts," she said in mock seriousness.

Emma's eyes widened and looked at Santana. Santana chuckled and nodded. "I'm sure Emma won't give my elf any problems, she's a good girl, aren't you?" and Emma nodded quickly, "I'll be good!" she said.

Brittany laughed, "Okay, go ahead then," Brittany said and he sister leapt off Santana's lap to go to Quinn and Beth who were waiting but quickly turned back and ran at her sister, giving her a tight hug and quickly said _'I love you' _before running back to the other two to get some icecream.

Brittany watched her go with a fond smile before turning to Santana, her smile growing even larger.

"Thank you," she said.

"For what?" Santana asked confused and took off her beard which _oh my God _her skin can breathe again.

"For being magical," Brittany said, "I've always told her that Santa is full of magic and I'm glad you were Santa and not someone grumpy."

Well, luckily Brittany hadn't come earlier then because Santana was... well, not very pleasant.

Santana just nodded and smiled at her, "It's no problem, she was adorable… unlike some other kids today," Santana muttered the last bit but Brittany heard if her giggle was any indication.

"Hey, what's your name?" Brittany asked, "You know mine but I don't know yours… I don't want to keep calling you Santa."

Keep calling her Santa? Was she implying they'd talk again outside of today? Santana hoped so.

"Santana," she said, "My name is Santana."

Brittany's eyes brightened considerably and smiled wider.

Santana started to fidget, "What?" Was there something wrong with her name or something?

"It's just-," Brittany giggled.

Okay, now Santana was really unsettled, "Just what?"

"Does that make you Santana Claus, then?" and Brittany started laughing.

Santana groaned internally because that was so cheesy then she felt glad that Quinn wasn't around because this was something she'd make fun of her for a very long time.

But standing there watching a beautiful girl laughing at something small, silly and just seem to be enjoying life; no matter what she may or may not be going through—she can't help but laugh along because that kind of laughter is infectious.

Their laughter gradually died down and Santana took a calming breath, "Yeah, I guess it does," she smiled and the other girl reciprocated. They stood there, chatting contentedly and sharing more laughter until her trusty elves and Brittany's sister came back; bearing icecream for the both of them. Santana smiled as she watched Brittany having a very serious discussion with the kids about which icecream flavour was the best one.

Santana supposes what they say is right after all—Christmas was a magical time of year.

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**Author's Note:**

I hope you enjoyed reading it, reviews are appreciated.

Grilled Cheesus out.


End file.
